Welcome back to The Spot, where The Denver Post’s politics team captures what’s happening this week — from the Colorado legislature to Denver city hall, with a stop through the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Now that the Colorado legislature’s 2018 session is over— and after we wrote about 101 bills state lawmakers passed or rejected — many of us over here at The Denver Post politics team are heading straight into campaign mode.
That doesn’t mean the Colorado politics world has stopped churning out news outside of November’s election — from abig-name gubernatorial appointment, to a new Colorado Supreme Court judge and a Centennial statestopover by a prominent billionaire Democrat who wants President Donald Trump impeached.
The University of Colorado A Line is in the news again(and not for its successes) and Denver’s Green Roof Initiative is not going to look like the policy voters passed in November 2017.
Unfortunately, we also have to report thatAurora Mayor Steve Hogan lost his battle with cancer over the weekend. (We’re thinking of his loved ones.)
Fresh news:Voters will decide whether to pass bipartisan gerrymandering reforms in November.
ROLL CALL
COLORADO: THE STATEHOUSE & BEYOND
- Teachers are not happy about the last-minute deal state lawmakers reachedto stabilize PERA, Colorado’s underfunded pension system.
- What you need to know about the$32 billion PERA overhaul.
- Lawmakers voted to increase Colorado’s reservesby an extra $90 million next year. But will that be enough?
- A major change to state employees’ pay fails, and Gov. John Hickenlooper administration’s botched rollout may cost taxpayers even more.
- Colorado transportation officials have come up with a solution for westbound I-70 at Floyd Hill. The problem is they don’t have the money to complete it.
- Colorado launched anearly $1.8 million campaign to end stigma around opioid addiction.
- Former diplomat Dan Baer wanted to be a congressman. Now, he will lead theColorado Department of Higher Education.
- 101 bills that passed and failed: A digest of what you missed in the 2018 Colorado legislative session.
- Did anything actually change after the #MeToo movement dominated this year’s legislative session?
- How legalized sports betting in Colorado could become a reality by 2019.
- The vote to officially end the five-day teachers strike in Pueblo Public Schools District 60 came downSunday.
- Harassing wildlife in this Colorado town could cost you — a lot.
- Gov. John Hickenlooper will soon choose his fifth Colorado Supreme Court justice, and we now know who the three finalists are.
- The Durango City Council has approved a sit, lie ban.
- Republican Wayne Williams is running for re-election as Colorado secretary of state in a year that may be tough for the GOP. It likely works in his favor that he’s tried, with varying success, to set himself apart from President Trump —but will that matter?
- Colorado lawmakers have sent twoanti-gerrymandering questions to the November ballot.
- Transgender inmates at the Colorado Territorial prison are welcoming calls for reforms, but they are outraged by how those demands were sparked.
DENVER & THE SUBURBS
- Denver Transit Partners got an earful this week over the botched rescue of strandedUniversity of Colorado A-Line trains last month. What’s clear is that RTD has run out of patience about problems with the line,which has experienced no shortage of bumps and lags since it opened two years ago.
- Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan has died.
- Here is a heartfelt remembrance of Hogan from one of The Denver Post’s best — reporter Kevin Simpson.
A statement from the city of Aurora on the passing of our beloved Mayor Stephen D. Hogan, provided by Aurora Mayor Pro Tem Marsha Berzins
— City of Aurora, CO (@AuroraGov)
- Six months after Denver voters approved the ambitious Green Roof Initiative,the new lawis aboutto changein significant ways.
- Boulder’s City Council unanimously passeda ban on assault weapons.
- DzԲDzԳ’s proposed agreement with a pair of oil and gas companies has spawned a lot of questions for city officials.
- A lot of road repavingis getting started in downtown Denver. See how it might affect your commute.
- Metro-area school districtsare lining up to support an overhaul of a program to cut public transportation fares forstudents and low-income families.
- Voters across a swath of Denver’s southern suburbs voted this week to merge their fire departments.
- A fast-growing Denver suburb is planning a 70-mile water pipeline – and opponents want them to improve the Poudre River while they’re at it.Moving water from one place to another in Colorado has long been a contentious issue resulting in multiple legal challenges over the years and chest-beating by everyone involved…
- Federal protections for disabled workers have been around for decades, butit took a slap from the U.S. Justice Department— and a $100,000 settlement — for a Denver County jail to treat a deputy sheriff right.
Here are current residential stats: nearly 23k live downtown (3X the pop in 2000), and 80k in broader “city center” neighborhoods from Highland/Curtis Park to Cap Hill/Sun Valley. Of note: just 4% of downtown households have children. Avg. $120k household income.
— Jon Murray (@JonMurray)
D.C. POLITICS FROM A COLORADO PERSPECTIVE
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- How Colorado became the safest state to cast a vote.
- Congressman Doug Lamborn failed last year in his effort to create a separate branch of the military known as . Undeterred, the Colorado Springs Republican is back again with a new effort — and possibly support from President Trump.
- Democrats are mad at billionaire Tom Steyer for pushing impeachment. Steyer’s mad that Democrats have no backbone.
- Donald Trump wants to win Colorado in 2020. But can he?
- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in Colorado next month to speak at the Western Conservative Summit.
- U.S.Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue got an earful from farmers during a visit to Colorado.
THE WIRE
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- U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is among the members of Congress who … ! — Politico
- U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner to have better body armor. — CBS4
- How sanctuary cities could get a boost from the U.S. Supreme Courtap sports betting ruling. — The Associated Press
- “These days, investing in highways is for many cities.” — Business Insider
- Denver neighborhood group Stapleton United Neighborshas from its name, and it will reveal the results next month. — Denverite
- Trump’s improved standing — and energy among GOP voters — are making Democrats nervous. — The Washington Post
- Will what happened to Democrats in Nebraska in Colorado? — The Washington Post
- Mayor Hancock and City Council members a $16,502 trip to Dubai. (DIAhas paid for$426,436 worth of travelfor the mayor’s office and the City Council in the last four years.) —Colorado Public Radio
- Seth Masket: Colorado’s legislature had a productive year. But, because of the state’s term limits,. — Pacific Standard
- Sen. Gardner aboutPresident Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Kim once calledGardner a “psychopath” who is “mixed in with human dirt.”)— NPR
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— Jesse Aaron Paul ☀ (@JesseAPaul)
Staff writers John Frank, Jon Murray, Mark K. Matthews and John Aguilar contributed to this newsletter.